When my colleague came into the office a few weeks ago in a pair of navy and white striped culottes with a bow on the side and an elastic waistband in the back, I knew I had a new DIY sewing project to add to my list. For reference, here…
Highlands Wrap Dress #1
I’m optimistically calling this post “Highlands Wrap Dress #1” in the hopes that I will make many more versions of this dress to share with you. I follow @indie_sew on instagram and saw this dress around the same time I was making my first self-drafted wrap dress. After trying a…
Perfect Pants Pattern – Round 2
I am still on the search for my perfect pants pattern (more on that here). With my latest round I came close, only to learn for sure that my body type does not let me make straight leg, slim fit pants. I can sort of fudge it by making the…
Swimsuit Experiment #3
After my last swimsuit experiment, I wanted to try something a little different. I wanted a high-neck (for sun protection), thin shoulder straps (halters give me headaches), and enough bum coverage that I’m not constantly feeling over-exposed. This is what I came up with. I thought about this design quite…
DIY Maxi Skirt Reprise
The thing about making your own clothes is that it is incredibly easy to remake the stuff you love again and again. A couple of weeks ago, I decided on whim to remake my side-slit maxi skirt on a Saturday morning and was finished in time to go for brunch.…
Swimsuit Experiments
Recently I’ve become obsessed with the idea of making my own swimsuits. Store-bought suits are expensive and I have trouble with fit because I am so short waisted. My shape is not at all flattered by the current high-waisted retro craze and in non-retro looking suits, the material devoted to bum…
Exploring Cropped Wide-leg Pants
I’ve been attracted to cropped wide-leg pants for quite a while but the ones I’ve tried on in stores just haven’t looked (or felt) good on me. Not being very tall (I’m 161 cms, that’s just over 5’3″ and relatively petite aside from my ex-gymnast thighs) probably has a lot to…
Houndstooth
Sewing is awesome. It is awesome because when you think of something you want, you don’t have to search for it in stores, you just have to make it. This houndstooth coat was exactly that, something I wanted and I made. This is my third coat project and is the…
Pattern Transformation: Work Dress
I’ve been working at various desk-based jobs for over a decade and, in that time, I’ve come up with a list of demands for comfortable office wear. I’ve tried to meet these demands with store-bought clothing but there is always something missing. For me, the perfect work dress needs to be…
Perfect Pants Pattern – Round 1
The primary reason that I started to make my own clothes was because I hated shopping for work pants. I am a 5’3″ ex-gymnast. I have thighs and a butt and calves but I am relatively flat across my front waist. My effort to find work pants that fit my…
My First Winter Coat
When I say I made my first ever winter-weight coat, I should acknowledge that I live in the most temperate climate in Canada and it rarely, if ever dips below zero degrees Celsius here. Now that I’ve gotten that disclaimer out of the way… I made my first winter coat!…
DIY: Double slit maxi dress
After I made my side-slit maxi skirt, I had a dream one night that I had a maxi dress made out of the same fabric. The dress in my dream had a loose top with a fitted waist and a straight skirt with a slit on each side. Here is…
First remake
The first piece of clothing that I tried to make without a pattern probably wasn’t the easiest choice. But that’s usually how I roll. I chose this top because I thought I could find fabric that would work and I loved the version I had but wanted to make a…
Custom Pattern Party Dress
In my quest to make an entire wardrobe for myself, I’m focusing on making pieces without patterns but I am not discounting using them for some of the harder-to-make pieces. This party dress is one example. I used a custom pattern from Bootstrap Fashion and have since repurposed the bodice pattern…
Easy DIY: Side-slit maxi skirt
When summer approaches, I always want to start wearing skirts before it is actually warm enough. I made this skirt last year as a way to bridge the seasonal gap and it is a great beginner DIY that you can easily customize to suit you. For this project your will need a…
Striped Conversion
A while back I was inspired by the outfit of a fashion blogger that I follow. The blog is called Lovely Pepa by Alexandra and the outfit was a fitted pencil skirt with matching crop top. Like this –> Putting aside the fact that really have no practical place to wear…
How To Take In a Dress (with lining)
After my custom-made duvet cover and pillow shams, I decided to tackle a smaller project that I had been waiting to try for a while. I was given a practically new, straight-cut shift dress by a good friend. It was a couple of sizes too big and needed some significant…
Easy Knitted Neck Warmer
This December, after I finished my term two course work, I got fairly heavily into knitting again. It was lovely to relax and do something other than school work after work each day and it felt great to give Christmas gifts that I had made… plus the process of making…